Valec’s already calling, phone to his ear. “Too far away, what can he do?”

Sel shakes his head, swallows. “Scion of Gawain.”

“That’s great, but it’s still too far…,” Valec says impatiently. “She’s not gonna last that long—”

“Shut up!”

Valec looks between the two of us, then out through the trees. “I’ll pick him up myself. Run him through the woods.” Valec’s gone in a gust of wind.

Something about his departure, or the lack of distraction, brings sensation flooding back to me. A scream builds in my throat, but the pain catches my chest before I can release it. Lightning through my stomach, up my ribs. Pain so deep my brain can barely process it.

“How bad is it?” I manage.

“William’s on his way,” Sel whispers. His hands are pressed against my side.

I tip my head over and see… enough. My right ribs and side are opened in stripes. Muscle, glistening wet. A steady stream of red flowing down into the dirt.

“I’m not gonna…”

“Yes, you are!” The muscles work in his jaw. His eyes shine—he blinks it away. “You are. You just have to hold on a little longer, Bree. For me—”

I start to respond, but when my mouth opens, nothing comes out but a low groan and a few dribbles of salty, metallic-tasting blood. I want to grab his wrist. Get him to look at me. Say something. He feels very far away. My body feels far away. And heavy. I hear his voice calling my name, but it’s garbled, like he’s speaking underwater. Sounds but not letters, not a word.

I drift in that heavy space, and everything—memories, thoughts, sensations—gets soft around the edges.

Dull. Gone.

Sel’s voice is still a slur of sounds, but they change. Grow fluid. And the cinnamon and spice scent of his aether signature brings me up from that dull place. I open my eyes. His eyes are fixed on my side, a strained grimace on his face. His hands hover an inch above my flesh. Aether shimmers in the space between my body and his palms in a thin layer.

“Don’t move,” he grits out.

“What are you…”

“I’ve got you. Stay with me.”

The floating dullness claims me again, but Sel’s magic is there on the edges, keeping the darkness at bay.

“Stay with me, Bree.”

43

MY EYELIDS FLUTTER open—a lamp nearby, too bright—and I immediately squeeze them shut.

“If I didn’t adore you, and if it wasn’t against every healer code ever in existence, I’d shake you half to death for scaring me like that.”

William.